In a Pay What You Want (PWYW) setting companies empower their customers to fix the prices buyers voluntarily pay for a delivered product or service. The seller agrees to any price (includ-ing zero) customers are paying. For about ten years researchers empirically investigate customer reactions to and economic outcomes of this pricing method. The present paper distinguishes PWYW from other voluntary payment mechanisms and reviews 72 English- or German-speaking PWYW publications, which appeared between January 2006 and September 2016 and contain 97 independent empirical data sets. Prior PWYW research is structured with the help of a conceptual framework which incorporates payment procedure design, buyer, seller, focal sales object and market context characteristics as factors potentially influencing customer perceptions of the PWYW scheme and their behavioral reactions to PWYW offers. The review discusses both consistent key findings as well as contradictory results and derives recommendations for future empirical PWYW research efforts.

Laser direct structuring (LDS) is very important step in the MID process and it is a complex process due to different parameters, which influence on this process and its final product. Therefore, it is very important to use a reliable model to predict, analyze and control the performance of the (LDS) process and the quality of the final product. In this work we develop mathematical models by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to study this process. The proposed models are used to study the effect of the LDS parameters on the groove dimensions (width and depth), lap dimensions (groove lap width and height) and finally the heat effective zone (interaction width), which are important to determine the line width/space in the MID products and the metallization profile after the metallization step. We also study the relationship between the LDS parameters and the surface roughness which is very important factor for the adhesion strength of MID structures. Moreover these models capable of finding a set of optimum LDS parameters that provide the required micro-channel dimensions with the best or the suitable surface roughness. A set of experimental tests are carried out to validate the developed ANN and the RSM models. It has been found that the predicted values for the proposal ANN and RSM models were closer to the experimental values, and the overall average absolute percentage errors were 4.02 % and 6.52%, respectively. Finally, it has been found that, the developed ANN model could be used to predict the response of the LDS process more accurately than RSM model.

The contribution of protected areas towards conservation and protection of biodiversity cannot be over emphasized. Likewise, the dependence of local communities on forest and natural resources cannot be overlooked. Hence for the long term viability of forest reserves and wildlife protected area, the relationship of local people living close to these areas are of key importance if conflict of use can be mitigated. Admittedly, decision-making with respect to forest resource use and protection are complex due to the multiple interests of the major stakeholders. Stakeholder involvement in the planning, management and policy analysis can help resolve conflicts, and increase the commitment of local people to support conservation of protected areas. In this paper, we employ the SWOT-AHP methodology, with the aid of the Priority Estimation Tool (PriEsT), to evaluate and prioritize three management strategies for the Kakum conservation area in Ghana, as a means to facilitate conservation while ensuring benefits to local people. Considering the management objectives of the conservation area, seventeen SWOT sub-factors were identified and used in rating the three alternative management strategies. Among the strength sub-factors, enforcement of protection regulations (S4) is the most important. Similarly, limited funds for patrolling and outreach programs (W3), local people’s interest in alternative livelihood (O4) and the presence of illegal activities (T3) are the most important weakness, opportunity and threat sub-factors respectively. The management strategy “institute village committees to support monitoring and protection of resources” (A1) has the highest priority rating, indicating that management authorities must pay more attention to collaborative management. We propose that to improve on protected area management in Ghana, more management strategy studies must be conducted. However, these studies may apply the fuzzy AHP technique since it is supposed to have a better capacity to handle uncertainties in human judgments during decision-making.

Due to more than three million people in Germany with a Turkish migration background country-of-origin (COO)-sensitive, designs of offers directed at this customer segment have been implemented by various corporations and discussed in the management literature for quite a while. Unfortunately, to date most publications have a weak empirical foundation and refrain from simultaneously investigating preference effects of several country-of-origin-sensitive and -neutral offer characteristics among Turkish migrants living in Germany. Therefore, the present paper explores the relative impacts of three COO-sensitive offer characteristics and one COO-neutral attribute of bundled mobile communication offers on preference statements derived from a conjoint-analysis of questionnaire responses of 249 consumers in Germany with Turkish roots. The results suggest that for the offering category in question a COO-neutral feature (cell phone type/brand) shapes the preferences of Turkish migrants almost to the same extent as the three remaining price- and communication-related characteristics investigated. Furthermore, we found that Turkish consumers in Germany encompass four subsegments with distinct preferences with respect to the design of mobile communication offerings. The members of these subsegments in turn differ primarily in terms of their age and gender structures as well as their level of accommodation to the German culture.

Glacial acetic acid as a protic acid was employed as a catalyst in a solvent free condition for facile preparation of di(indolyl)methanes (DIMs) via one-pot condensation of indole with aryl or heteroaryl aldehydes. Various aryl and heteroaryl aldehydes were efficiently converted to the corresponding di(indolyl)methanes (1a-p) in high yields. The described novel synthetic method proposes several advantages of safety, mild condition, short reaction times, high yields, simplicity and the inexpensively glacial acetic acid compared to other catalysts.

The XPRESS project introduces a completely new scalable concept of a manufactronic networked factory, which is composed by a co-ordinated team of specialized autonomous objects (Manufactrons), each knowing how to do a certain process optimally. This knowledge based concept integrated the complete chain: production configuration (decrease of ramp-up time of at least 50%), multi-variant production line (varying types and volumes on a single line) and 100% quality monitoring. The manufactronic networked architecture allows continuous process improvement, and will be able to anticipate and to respond to rapidly changing consumer needs, producing high-quality products in adequate quantities while reducing costs. This concept is demonstrated in the automotive, aeronautics and electrical industry but can be transferred to nearly all production processes.